# I just called 911 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 10, 2002, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-called-911/118214 "2002-07-10T10:09:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-called-911/118214/21 "2002-07-11T10:41:35Z")
**spooje** : Poquito Mas. I think it’s good. All right, it’s not really a **taco stand** , but I was rushing through the OP. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-called-911/118214/22 "2002-07-11T14:25:05Z")
" How hard is it to dial 911?" Try finding eleven on your phone. I haven’t called them but I have asked others to call them for me. It makes me nervous cause in my city they send the cops, paramedics & FD for anything. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-called-911/118214/23 "2002-07-11T17:37:02Z")
I called 911 once when I was on campus (of course, it dialed into the campus police). I was hanging out in my room when there was some crying and arguing happening outside. I peeked out my window and saw a guy and girl, both aparently drunk fighting, and she was very upset, and repeatedly asked him to leave her alone, let her go, and he wasn’t up for it, and was physically restraining her. After watching for about a minute, making sure it was an actual “situation” I called the police. They came, took a statement from me, found the two people (who had since moved on) and made sure that they each went to their respective dorms; the girl didn’t want to make any complaint against the guy. I was definitely wierded out; I was ready to go out there and confront the guy, but I suppose it’s better I didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![OESGal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecae2f/32.png) [@OESGal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OESGal)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-called-911/118214/24 "2002-07-11T20:29:11Z")
I’ve had to call one time, but my family several times. We live right next to the entrance to a park trail and people sometimes have heart attacks, lose people they’re with, etc. The one I called for was a lady came to our door saying she saw someone in the woods on the trail she thought was having a heart attack. Turns out he was just severely dehydrated, but they took him away in an ambulance anyway. One time my family had to call was a lady said she was jogging with her husband and he got ahead of her and she lost track of him. My Dad called 911 and turns out the guy had had a hear attack and died, poor guy, felt so bad for that woman too. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-called-911/118214/25 "2002-07-11T20:31:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rilchiam \* > \*\ ***spooje** : Poquito Mas. I think it’s good. All right, it’s not really a **taco stand** , but I was rushing through the OP. \*\* Mmmmmmm… Poquito Mas es muy bueno…😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sue\_Duhnym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Sue\_Duhnym](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sue_Duhnym)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-called-911/118214/26 "2002-07-11T21:51:33Z")
I just called 911 yesterday morning. Here’s the post from my LJ: > [@](#): > > _Approx 5AM Pacific_ > > I just called 911. > > I woke up about 2 hours ago and came downstairs to grab a drink and our backyard lights were on. The thing is, you can only turn the lights on from inside the house and I know, am positive, I turned them off before I went to bed. Not only are they part of my evening routine but they’re very bright lights and I remember feeling my way into the hall on my way upstairs. > > All the doors were locked but the lights were on. Which meant that they either went on by themselves, someone turned them on and was still in the house, or someone who has a key to the house turned them on and left, deadbolting the doors from the outside. > > My husband is out of town and the nanny left at 10PM. I don’t sleepwalk. > > I tried to call Hubby in NYC for an hour before he answered because I wanted to double check that the lights had interior switches only. I had locked Kiddo and I in her bedroom and refused to go back downstairs. He recommended that I call 911, so I did. > > The officer came out and checked everything, the whole house and all closets and there’s nothing. He suggested that maybe I was misremembering. > > So now I feel like an idiot. > > And to top it off, my husband is having security problems because he wouldn’t get on his flight to Toronto and his bag was already checked. He missed some guy he’s been trying to interview for months and now he’s changed his flight to Cleveland and they’re hand checking everything. > > On the plus side, they did pull his bag from the Toronto flight so security in NYC is working. > > Oh, and Kiddo and I are alive. That’s a plus too. > > PS The jacuzzi panel (right above one of the light switces) indicated that the jacuzzi has shorted out. Could that have something to do with it? The other light switch is in the laundry room, about 20 feet from the other switch. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-called-911/118214/27 "2002-07-11T22:59:39Z")
I’ve called the police for domestic disturbances two times - once was when I was living in an apartment above a public phone, and I could hear a woman on the phone having a violent argument on the phone and also with a guy who was with her - he hit her, she screamed, I called the police. The second time was when my neighbours in my paper-thin-walled condo were having a big screamfest before work - they woke me up and scared my cats, then he started slamming her around and she started screaming, so I called the police. No one makes women scream like that without discussing it with the police on my watch. In both cases, the police never made me give a name or a statement or anything, which I was glad for. I’ll happily call the police to break up a fight, but I have no particular interest in going to court for someone else’s problems. I would if I had to; just don’t particularly want to. ---
**Author:** ![Rasa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rasa/32/3578_2.png) [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-called-911/118214/28 "2002-07-11T23:18:35Z")
I called 911 accidentally once. My friend’s mom had died, and me and said friend were at another friend’s apartment in Northampton. I was in college at UMass Amherst at the time. My friends had both been drinking and were in pretty rough shape that night. Lots of drunken reminiscing and stuff. For some reason, I called my mom, and we got into a huge fight. I don’t remember why. It was awful. Someone called on the other line, and I tried to answer it, but pressed the wrong button. Didn’t think anything of it. I got off the phone, very shaken and crying. Ten minutes later, there was a knock on the door. I went to the door to get it, and there were two NoHo cops at the door. Tim came up to the door behind me and put his hand on my shoulder to kind of lean over me to see who it was. The policeman said “We received a 911 call, hangup, from this location. What’s the problem?” I realized I must’ve hit the speed dial emergency button, and explained this. They looked at Tim, in his torn t-shirt, looked at me, and said, “Miss? Will you step outside please?” So I went into the hallway and they shut the door. The policeman said “Are you sure you’re all right? You look upset, and his shirt is ripped… was there a fight? You can come with us right now and you’ll be safe.” I felt so guilty! I told them that no, I truly was ok, and Tim was just a bad dresser, and that our friend’s mom had died and I had just had an upsetting conversation with my mom. They shrugged and said “Ok.” It was good to know though that they got there so fast, and they did seem genuinely concerned that I was ok. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-called-911/118214/29 "2002-07-12T02:50:12Z")
I’ve called 911 twice. The couple next door to us used to fight all the time. I mean knock down the pictures-on-our-wall type fights. My husband and I would knock on their door when it got really bad and tell them to stop. They both would look very annoyed that we didn’t mind our buisness. One night the fighting started. Then their small daughter started yelling: “Daddy, put down the knife!” I didn’t knock on the door this time. I called the cops. The police were there in less than 2 minutes. They took the husband away in cuffs. A week later the husband was back, banging on the door to be let in. He came at least once a week. She never let him back in again. The second time I called 911, I was looking out my 4th floor window. There was some construction going on in the building across the street. 3 guys grabbed another one and dragged him, literaly kicking and screaming, into the construction site and pulled down a heavy gate behind them. I dialed 911. Two policemen were there a few moments after I hung up the phone. It was broad daylight and my block is pretty busy. There were people on the street. When the cops got out of their car, people on the street pointed out the gate. The police pulled out three guys in a very ungentle fashion. They assisted the fourth guy out and he got in an ambulance. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-called-911/118214/30 "2002-07-12T03:51:06Z")
There’s no way I could recall all of my 911 calls. Skipping the dramas of my own life, I’ll note that I am regarded as the 911 King at my office. I was a fire marshall for a few years, and in our training one incident was related wherein a group of people in a conference room up at Greenspoint watched an apartment complex burn. One of them complained that it took 25-30 minutes for the HFD to respond. As it turned out, nobody amongst the spectators in the conference room had called 911. Being midday at an apartment complex populated by working people who were all off at work at the time, it was a little while before the fire was noticed and reported. The lesson was taken to heart. I now office in a building that overlooks a major traffic artery’s intersection with a freeway. Lotta good smashups here. And the office has come to expect me to be the one to call. Our receptionist knows that, if the police department calls, it’s for me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-called-911/118214.md?page=1)